If you have a t-shirt brand or are looking to start one, you’ve likely read a handful of articles that go like this: “How xxxxx made a million dollars selling shirts in two years” or “The secret formula xxxx brand used to become a multi-million dollar company”. The truth is that for every story like that, there are a hundred more of upstart t-shirt brands that have crashed and burned after expecting instant success. Building a long-lasting t-shirt brand is a grind. It requires perseverance, it requires steadfast commitment and dedication, and it requires stepping out of the box and trying new ways of getting your product in front of potential fans and customers.

One of the most effective ways our partner brands at Teehunter have been able to get valuable exposure is through running promotional giveaways. By offering a well thought out prize package for a winner (or winners), it allows for several weeks of visibility by thousands of potential customers that may have never heard of their brand otherwise. It also allows brands to acquire things like e-mails, website visitors, and social media followers that they can get their product in front of for years to come.

Running a giveaway isn’t for everyone. Before embarking on a promotion such as this it’s important to do an honest assessment of yourself, your product, and your overall brand so that you can make sure you’ll get the value out of it that you’re looking for. Too often, brands will put the cart before the horse when it comes to marketing, causing them to miss out on the desired results. So before you run a giveaway or any other marketing campaign for that matter, take a good hard look at your brand and see if you fit the following criteria.

Have a truly awesome product

No amount of marketing can make up for a shitty product. People will only listen to your story once, and if you don’t back it up with a high-quality product, top notch customer service, and going above and beyond what all of your competitors are doing, it just ain’t gonna work.

Before you run your giveaway, cross your t’s and dot your i’s and make sure you have a product that people won’t just buy once, but keep coming back for again and again. This is one of, if not the most surefire ways to get a return on your effort and investment.

Know who your audience is

A common mistake t-shirt brands make is that they don’t totally know who their core audience is so they cast a wide net, cross their fingers and say their prayers, and wait for sales to come in that end up never materializing.

You need to know who your core audience is, where they hang out, what they enjoy doing, what they like wearing, what type of content they’re digesting, what social media platforms, and basically where they eat, sleep, and what type of air they breathe!

Before you run a giveaway, make sure you know who your core audience is and what matters to them. Otherwise, you’ll just be wasting your time and resources.

Know your brand’s story

The whole purpose of the giveaway is to get your brand and product in front of a targeted audience that hasn’t seen it before. Equally important as getting in front of them, however, is knowing what to do once your there. What’s the message you want to convey to them? How do you want them to remember you? Why will they go and tell their friends and family about you? What sets you apart from the million and one other t-shirt brands out there? All of these are questions you should have answers to before you start marketing your brand. If you don’t have these answers, sit down and put some real time and thought into finding them.

Before you run a giveaway, know what the story of your brand is and why it should matter to other people. There are thousands of brands competing for their attention, why should yours stand out?

Be ready to represent and share your product

Nobody should be a bigger evangelist of your brand and product than you. If you don’t truly believe in your product and take every single opportunity you can to spread your story, how can you expect anyone else to? Your belief in your product and desire to share it with others is a determining factor in whether or not your brand finds success,

Want to take a quick test to see whether or not you’re a true believer in your brand? Look down at your t-shirt. Are you wearing your own brand or someone else’s? If you’re not wearing your own brand, why not? And how can you expect someone else to when you’re not doing so yourself.

Before you run a giveaway, If you’re not your own biggest believer and fan, don’t be surprised if others take a look and pass on by.

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Running a promotional giveaway has proven to be one of today’s most effective marketing methods for t-shirt brands. But just running the giveaway to run a giveaway doesn’t guarantee success. The brands that get the desired results are those that put out high-quality products, know who their audience is, know what their brand story is and share that story with any and every one they come across.

Over 2 billion t-shirts are sold worldwide every year so the opportunity is there for the taking. Fortune favors the bold, so reach out and grab it!